This Friday through Sunday, over 80 poets will participate in a weekend-long poetry reading in Boston. Each poet has eight minutes of reading time. The participants range from the up-and-coming to the well established. Such an ambitious and impressive event promises to send thousands of words into the heads of thousands of poetry enthusiasts.

This is one of those events that makes having a private plane seem like an imperative life holding. Strictly for purposes of attending far-off readings, of course…

But if you’re in the area, definitely stop by, for eight minutes or eighty, and enjoy some of Boston’s best poetry voices.

Dark Sky Books author Ben Mazer is scheduled to read on Sunday afternoon. And next week’s featured poet, Elisa Gabbert, takes the stage Friday night.

Check out the rest of the line-up after the jump. And visit the Boston Poet Tea Party for venue information and contacts.

(more…)

Often you’ll hear that a poetry reading should never run for more than 40 minutes, otherwise people start to go batty. Good advice, sure. But others disagree. These crazy people think poetry reading should be non-stop endeavors — lasting up to nine hours. Holy smokes, nine hours? That’s right, in the near future the Bay Area Poetry Marathon will explode like a word minefield, from 12-9 on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

Yes, poets be crazy.

(more…)

Speak to me
the way you once did –
I love the wind
for its solvent qualities.
Lets make a collage
of the furnaces
left behind
in previous lives.

I am the tree of this flesh,
ferocity of plumage.
At dawn roofs haunt
your multiplicity.

Is there a speech that does not
contain monody?
Is there a body that does not
seek its own nakedness?
We’ve had this conversation before –
We haven’t. It was the lion
stealing the night with roars.

_________________________

Henry Mariachi is a singer/guitarist in the band Tonto. Birthed in Santa Fe, educated in the slow migration westward.

Get Your Free Literature Here

The internet is all about free communication (except for provider fees and computer costs). Hell, we specifically use this format in order to spread free literary news, happenings, works, and the like. You too can join the fray and spread free information on The Rejectionist. Asylum offers a gratis review of Lee Rourke’s The Canal. Cool Tools has a list of the best magazine articles ever written — all at no charge. And yet complimentary reading is not limited to the internet, check out the philanthropic Concord Free Press. We all like free food, but what about Chaucer’s cook’s creations? Don’t worry, there’s no small print that just taketh away. — Andrew Geer